The Rat Summary
In the agenda of The Rat human civilization since the late 1950s has moved inexorably toward catastrophe.
The national culture of early 1980s Germany is representative of the whole world as it moves towards doomsday.
Grass does not predict the recent unification of Germany; instead, he predicts the continued growth of an inherent and tragic fascism, which not only was not defeated in World War II, but also actually survived and flourished as the subtextual political principle of the victorious allies who, in turn, nurtured it in the rebuilding of modern Germany. Fascists were never out of power, much less repentant. Because it is inherently perverted and self-killing, fascism will destroy the world.
A civilization made by rats — a skewed but obvious allegorical representation of humanity — emerges in a postholocaust period. The surviving rats miss mankind. In fact, they imitate mankind in...
(read more from the Short Guide)
Study Pack
The The Rat Study Pack contains:
The Rat Short Guide
Gnter Grass Biographies (4)
13,646 words, approx. 46 pages
Günter Grass is more than a writer; he is a phenomenon. Recognized in Germany by friend and foe alike as a formidable artistic and political force, abroad he is viewed almost as a personification...
Read more
3,280 words, approx. 11 pages
Günter Grass, although best known for his fiction, has also had a significant career as a playwright. Some of his most original plays were conceived between 1953 and 1959, before the publication ...
Read more
991 words, approx. 4 pages
The German novelist, playwright, and poet Günter Grass (born 1927) is internationally known as one of the most important literary figures of postwar Germany; he is also known as an exemplar of hi...
Read more
14,084 words, approx. 47 pages
Biography EssayGunter Grass is more than a writer; he is a phenomenon. Recognized in Germany by friend and foe alike as a formidable artistic and political force, abroad he is viewed almost as a perso...
Read more